These television chefs are filthy rich!

Quirky, science-loving and sometimes just plain evil, chef Alton Brown has grown his fortune over his long career on the Food Network. After graduating from the New England Culinary Institute in 1997, he starred in his show Good Eats just one year later.

NEW YORK, NY – OCTOBER 13: Alton Brown attends the Food Network’s rooftop birthday party hosted by Alton Brown, Giada De Laurentiis, Bobby Flay and Ina Garten at Pier 92 on October 13, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images for NYCWFF)

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Good Eats ended after 14 highly successful seasons but that didn’t mean Brown disappeared off our screens. Since then, he’s kept the money rolling in with hosting gigs on Iron Chef America and Cutthroat Kitchen, and with the sales of numerous cookbooks.

Bobby Flay — $30 Million

NEW YORK, NY – AUGUST 09: Chef Bobby Flay attends the 2017 #DrinkGoodDoGood Campaign Launch at Little River on August 9, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images)

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Since graduating first in his class from the French Culinary Institute, Bobby Flay has dominated the Food Network. While some of his $30 million net worth comes from his chain of burger restaurants in America, the bulk comes from his television appearances.

Since 2000, Flay has starred in Iron Chef America, Throwdown! With Bobby Flay, Beat Bobby Flay, Brunch @ Bobby’s, and Worst Cooks In America. It also helps that Flay is one of the best looking chefs on television.

Padma Lakshmi — $30 Million

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It makes total sense that the host of Food Network’s biggest show also has one of the biggest net worths. Padma Lakshmi has been the drop-dead beauty who has hosted Top Chef for more than 12 years. She is paid $50,000 per episode and also serves as an executive producer.

Add that to her years of modeling, successful acting career, book deal, and work as a columnist for Vogue, Lakshmi is one of the most successful women on our television screens.

Keep reading to see why the government is paying millions to the Pioneer Woman.

Guy Fieri — $8.5 Million

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Guy Fieri might not have the highest net worth of all the Food Network chefs but he’s definitely one of the most recognizable. With his bleached spiky hair and tacky bowling shirts, the Mayor of Flavortown has built a brand around his huge personality.

While he has brought in some serious cash thanks to shows like Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives and Guy’s Grocery Games, he also charges $100,000 for media appearances. Not too bad for a guy with a bleached soul patch.

Giada De Laurentiis — $20 Million

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Ever since the debut of Everyday Italian, Giada De Laurentiis has been a staple on the Food Network. Since the show premiered in 2003, De Laurentiis has also hosted Giada At Home, Giada Entertains, and Giada In Paradise. Basically, if you put the chef’s first name on a television show, it’s bound to be good.

De Laurentiis’ $20 million net worth is also thanks to her pay advances from various cookbooks, which are said to be as big as $2.5 million per book.

Ree Drummond —$50 Million

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The Pioneer Woman might cook and act like a ranch wife and mother but with a $50 million net worth, she can live like a Hollywood A-lister. While you might think most of her income comes from the Food Network show, The Pioneer Woman, she also makes millions of dollars in advertisement revenue from her independent blog.

Drummond also receives $2 million a year from the U.S. Government because her estate is so large that they keep wild horses on the land for “animal protection.”

If cake-master Duff Goldman had never become a featured host on the Food Network, he’d probably do just fine with his income from his bakery, Charm City Cakes. But thanks to his show Ace of Cakes, his business has skyrocketed.

Not only has his business (and his net worth) been booming since Ace of Cakes, but he’s also starred on other Food Network shows like Kids Baking Championship and Buddy Vs. Duff. He might have a $5 million net worth but he still refuses to dress in anything nicer than a t-shirt and cargo shorts.

Valerie Bertinelli — $20 Million

NEW YORK, NY – NOVEMBER 04: Valerie Bertinelli visits “Extra” at their New York studios at H&M in Times Square on November 4, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by D Dipasupil/Getty Images for Extra)

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Duff’s co-host of Kids Baking Championship, Valerie Bertinelli, is worth four times as much! While she brings in an estimated $2 million annually from her hosting jobs on Valerie’s Home Cooking and Kids Baking Championship, most of her money from her early work as an actress.

Long before she was a Food Network star, Bertinelli was best known for her roles on One Day At A Time, Touched By An Angel, and Hot In Cleveland.

Ina Garten — $50 Million

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Ina Garten is one of the few people that has made her entire fortune off her skills in the kitchen. Thanks to her long-running show Barefoot Contessa, a line of food products, and successful cookbooks, this self-taught chef is living the American dream.

Her fortune is even more impressive when you realize she didn’t start her food career until she was in her thirties. Before that, she worked in the White House as a budget manager.

The next three chefs are some of the richest in the world.

Jamie Oliver — $400 Million

CANNES, FRANCE – OCTOBER 15: Jamie Oliver attend the Jamie Olivier photocall as part of the MIPCOM 2018 on October 15, 2018 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Arnold Jerocki/Getty Images)

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He might not be a Food Network staple but Jamie Oliver is one of the richest chefs in the world. In 2016 alone, Oliver brought in $39 million. Most of his net worth comes from his television show The Naked Chef and various book deals.

The rest of Oliver’s $400 million net worth is thanks to lucrative advertising deals. The British chef has a line of Tefal cookware, has partnered with the grocery chain Sobeys, and is a spokesperson for the meal kit subscription service HelloFresh.

Martha Stewart — $638 Million

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In 2004, the public watched Martha Stewart struggle publicly with money after being convicted and sent to prison for the ImClone stock trading scandal. While many thought the crime would ruin Stewart’s culinary empire, it did quite the opposite. By 2006, her company had become profitable again and by 2018, she was back on top with a net worth of $638 million.

That net worth is thanks to multiple cookbooks, her magazine and show Martha Stewart Living, and most recently, the tv show Martha & Snoop’s Potluck Dinner Party.

Gordon Ramsay —$190 Million

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Not only is Gordon Ramsay one of the top-earning chefs in the world, but he’s also a top-earning celebrity. Thanks to his long-running shows Hell’s Kitchen, Master Chef, and Kitchen Nightmares, Ramsay has built a reputation that continues to bring in cash.

With a $225,000 per episode fee, Ramsay made $62 million in 2018 alone. Considering the fact he’s richer than most celebrities, we don’t know why he still needs to yell all the time.

Coming up, we only discovered the true net worth of this food critic after his tragic death.

With 22 cookbooks under her belt, a magazine with 1.7 million subscribers, and a successful television show is it any surprise that celebrity chef Rachel Ray is worth $60 million? Over the past 20 years, Ray has not only built a cooking empire but an entire brand around her lifestyle.

And no, she’s not slowing down any time soon. Ray is going to be reviving her series 30 Minute Meals in 2019. There’s no doubt that we’ll all be glued to our television screens.

Anthony Bourdain — $1.2 Million

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Before the tragic passing of celebrity culinary expert Anthony Bourdain, many people believed his net worth to be in the tens of millions. While he once told Wealthsimple that reports of his net worth were “ten times overstated” it wasn’t until his will was released that it revealed he was worth $1.2 million.

Despite several cookbooks and starring on the show Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown for several years, the chef was fickle with his money. He left nearly all of his estate to his 11-year-old daughter.

Andrew Zimmern – $8 Million

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Thanks to his penchant for trying strange and unusual foods, Andrew Zimmern has built a massive net worth. The award-winning host of The Big Food Truck Tip and Bizarre Foods earns $35,000 for every episode of Food Network television that he films.

Zimmern’s $8 million net worth is even more inspiring because he’s a recovered addict. His restaurant career was put on hold for many years due to drug and alcohol addiction that left him homeless. Thankfully, he got clean and now volunteers to help others do the same.

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